could anyone tell me which is the best way to represent negative numbers to kids not older then 11 years old? and also how you make them feel the substraction and addition of negative numbers? preferably visually?

Thanks

Badi6

Oct 12th 2008, 06:54 AM

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Quote:

Originally Posted by badi6

could anyone tell me which is the best way to represent negative numbers to kids not older then 11 years old? and also how you make them feel the substraction and addition of negative numbers? preferably visually?

Thanks

Badi6

Introduce the concept of negative numbers as "owing" an amount.

E.g. You had $3 in your bank account but the bank has a monthly fee of $10. So you owe them $7. So the amount of money you have left is -$7.

Visually use a number line. Addition is movement to the left, subtraction is movement to the right.

Oct 12th 2008, 10:40 AM

Moo

Hello,

You can also try to give examples with a buildings. If you are at the 2nd floor, where are you going to be if you go down 3 floors ?

Or with games : if you play a video game, each time you hit the opponent, you earn 10 points, each time you are hit, you lose 5 points.